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Full Idea
The inferential role of the existential quantifier in first order logic does not carry over to the existential quantifier in English (we have empty names, singular terms that are not even in the business of denoting, and so on).
Gist of Idea
The quantifier in logic is not like the ordinary English one (which has empty names, non-denoting terms etc)
Source
Thomas Hofweber (Ambitious, yet modest, Metaphysics [2009], 2)
Book Ref
'Metametaphysics', ed/tr. Chalmers/Manley/Wasserman [OUP 2009], p.274
16413 | Science has discovered properties of things, so there are properties - so who needs metaphysics? [Hofweber] |
16416 | The quantifier in logic is not like the ordinary English one (which has empty names, non-denoting terms etc) [Hofweber] |
16415 | Esoteric metaphysics aims to be top science, investigating ultimate reality [Hofweber] |